For some of us, winter is one long bad hair day. But it doesn't have to be. Christine Richmond, senior editor at Natural Health Magazine, has some tips to keep your hair shiny and beautiful, the natural way, using organic products.

STACEY: I'm Stacey Tisdale for howdini. If it seems like winter brings out the worst in your hair, well you don't have to hibernate or leave your hat on on the time. Christine Richmond is here with some great advice. She's the senior editor and green expert at Natural Health magazine. Christine thank you so much for joining us. Now why is winter so rough on our hair?

CHRISTINE: Well it's pretty simple it's the drop in humidity that affects our hair. That and the fact that we're indoors a lot more surrounded by indoor heating.

This Video

STACEY: And what are some of the effects that those things have on our hair?

CHRISTINE: Well what that does is it dries out your hair and it leads to those classic winter problems like an itchy scalp or dull hair and then of course the dreaded static.

STACEY: As far as some of the tricks to keeping our hair and scalp healthy, you say one great thing is to lather less.

CHRISTINE: Yeah if you think about shampooing a little less often than you would in the summer. Maybe one to three times a week--that'll help a lot in terms of keeping your hair well hydrated. If your hair's really dry, you can actually shampoo with a light conditioner instead of a shampoo. Use it the same way you would a shampoo, rinse it out...but that'll help keep your hair hydrated.

STACEY: And are there specific products that could help?

CHRISTINE: You want to look for something really gentle. We like Mario Russo's line. He has some hydrating shampoos and conditioners with olive oil in them.

STACEY: You say massaging with oil is also a great thing to do for your hair in the winter.

CHRISTINE: Yeah that um--massaging with oil is a great way to bring blood flow to your scalp and regulate your oil production. It's really easy to do. You can actually just dip your fingertips in some olive oil or sunflower oil and just rub your head for about a minute before you go to bed.

STACEY: You also say the products that we use could make a big difference in the winter.

CHRISTINE:Definitely when you're finishing your look you want to use a really hydrating product to finish it off. If you're at the drugstore there's a brand called Organics. They make a really nice serum that's made with natural vanilla bean. Another great choice is Jason. They make a lot of natural products for your hair and we really love their citrus pomade. And that will just keep your static under control and keep your hair hydrated and looking its best.

STACEY: Great advice. Christine Richmond, senior editor and green expert at Natural Health magazine. Thank you so much for joining us.

CHRISTINE:Thank you Stacey.

Recent Posts

Howdini is life’s little instruction manual, in HD. We’re all about bringing together the top, most respected experts in their fields to help us be the best we can be at all of the little and not-so-little challenges of our complicated lives. Howdini is the place to be for the know-how you want, when you need it. Or maybe it’s the know-how you need, when you want it. Whatever. We’re here to help. So come in and look around, won’t you?

We think you’ll love finding everything you want to learn about in one convenient place, and as we grow and add more categories and more Howdinis, you’ll be doing less surfing and more learning right here. And unlike television, Howdinis aren’t limited by time—we don’t have to break for commercials, and we’re always on.

Who is Howdini?

People often ask us, is there an actual person who is Howdini? And the answer is, it’s kind of like Lassie. Just as there were many Lassies, there are many individuals who are called Howdini. In fact, each of our experts is a Howdini, and, like all those Lassies, they really know their tricks. (Although so far there is no ‘How to tell your master that Timmy is trapped in the old abandoned mine’ segment)

Our gurus are people you know and trust because you’ve been getting advice from them for years, at places like Good Morning America, The Today Show, Money, Prevention, and Food and Wine (to name just a few). Many are best-selling authors. Others, like our medical experts, are respected leaders in their fields.

Howdini History

The first Howdini was Joanna Breen, who left a comfortable career at ABC’s 20/20 to create a how to video website after one too many frustrating experiences with handymen who weren’t that handy. Joanna had traveled the world reporting with Barbara Walters and others on injustice, outrage, and tragedy, but now it was time to turn her talents to dealing with crises closer to home, like what do you do if you drop your diamond ring down the drain. Joanna is the quintessential can-do girl, so she didn’t find the prospect of launching a gigantic website the least bit daunting. (Ok, that last part isn’t entirely true.)

Joanna convinced an old ABC News buddy, Shelley Lewis, to join her. Shelley had supervised roughly 9.7 million helpful how to segments during a long career executive producing television shows like Good Morning America and CNN’s American Morning. A self-described “info-pig” who loves all kinds of information programming, she is never happier than when she’s learning an amazing new tip that she can annoy share with everyone she knows. Needless to say, Howdini was a dream gig for her. A career woman, a wife, a mother, and author of two books, Shelley considers herself equally challenged by all the facets of her life.

Joanna and Shelley were introduced to marketing executive Alison Provost by a mutual friend who knew that Alison had what they needed - entrepreneurial experience, patience, and a checkbook that still had checks in it. Joanna and Shelley could see right away that Alison should join Howdini. They figured that they would take care of the programming, and Alison would bring trustworthy sponsors to help pay the bills. It took Alison significantly longer to be convinced, maybe because she was crazy busy running a marketing firm called PowerPact, which she continues to oversee while serving as the biggest of big cheeses at Howdini. But whether it’s playing Suduko or launching a new business in a field she knows little about, Alison loves the challenge of a good puzzle, It wasn’t long before she began dropping obscure internet terms like “user-interface” and “googlebot” into casual conversation.

What’s Next for Howdini?

Our goals are modest. Complete and total domination of the internet, crushing Google, Microsoft, and any other punks who get in our way. (Hey, it’s a just a goal.) But until then, we will content ourselves making the best, most professional, most credible how to videos you can find anywhere. We want to help you solve your career issues, your parenting problems, your money troubles. We want you to be more glamorous, healthier, and less stressed out. We want you to check Howdini every day for fun, interesting, useful advice from experts you know and trust.

We want to make Howdini the community you love to be part of every day, To do that, we need to hear from you. Please share your suggestions, rate and comment on the Howdini videos, and the blog, (The Howdini blog). Tell us what you’d like us to create for you.

And then, when we’ve achieved that, it’s back to working on complete and total domination of the internet.